Monday, May 13, 2013

Remember back in the day, when we were promised "if you like your current plan, you can keep your current plan?" And remember how well that turned out?

Yeah.

Well, turns out that if you like your current agent, you may be able to keep him (or, of course, her). But probably not. From Anthem email:

"As part of our on-going support and commitment to you and your retention efforts, you will remain the Agent of Record for your clients when we transition them to an ACA-compliant off exchange* plan"

How nice.

Notice that little asterisk?

We'll get to that in a moment.

First, though, let's clarify what that term "transition" means. As we explained last month, existing plans will be going away shortly (what, you thought they meant it when they said you could keep your plan?), and currently insured folks will be "mapped" or changed over to comparable ObamaTax-compliant ones (and by "comparable" we mean "nothing at all like"). Don't like that idea? Please let Mr Baucus know.

Once you've been "mapped" to your new plan, you may have some questions about it, so you'll likely want to discuss those with your agent.

And now for that pesky little asterisk:

"You may be required to become Exchange Certified if your client enrolls via the Exchange"

And if your agent (rationally) take a pass on that attractive offer? Well, then, time to pick a new one. Of course, that likely means someone whom you don't know, have never known, and have no relationship with. Not to mention, someone who may, in fact, be completely uninterested in helping you.

Remember back in the day, when we were promised "if you like your current plan, you can keep your current plan?" And remember how well that turned out?

Yeah.

Well, turns out that if you like your current agent, you may be able to keep him (or, of course, her). But probably not. From Anthem email:

"As part of our on-going support and commitment to you and your retention efforts, you will remain the Agent of Record for your clients when we transition them to an ACA-compliant off exchange* plan"

How nice.

Notice that little asterisk?

We'll get to that in a moment.

First, though, let's clarify what that term "transition" means. As we explained last month, existing plans will be going away shortly (what, you thought they meant it when they said you could keep your plan?), and currently insured folks will be "mapped" or changed over to comparable ObamaTax-compliant ones (and by "comparable" we mean "nothing at all like"). Don't like that idea? Please let Mr Baucus know.

Once you've been "mapped" to your new plan, you may have some questions about it, so you'll likely want to discuss those with your agent.

And now for that pesky little asterisk:

"You may be required to become Exchange Certified if your client enrolls via the Exchange"

And if your agent (rationally) take a pass on that attractive offer? Well, then, time to pick a new one. Of course, that likely means someone whom you don't know, have never known, and have no relationship with. Not to mention, someone who may, in fact, be completely uninterested in helping you.